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Tag: small business owners

  • More About Josh Garner

    Hey!

    I would like to tell you a little more about my professional background and experience. I hope it helps you to understand more about not only the services I provide, but the way in which I conduct business.

    SEO Background

    My SEO career began in 2005 with a very large small business website design firm here in Jacksonville, FL. When I joined as a customer care representative, there really wasn’t much of an SEO strategy in place for their clients. I learned all I could about SEO and eventually became the company’s SEO expert.

    That position involved consulting to an internal team of SEO consultants on the latest and greatest SEO methods; as well as direct consulting to selected clients. Being that we literally had tens of thousands of small business clients, an internal team of more than 200 people and a CEO that had a thing for buying other large companies with large client bases; it would suffice to say that I gained a ton of SEO experience.

    I left that position to become a member of a small SEO team at a company that provided website design and SEO services to the hotel industry. I quickly proved my expertise and helped them re-create their SEO products to become more efficient internally, and more beneficial to their clients.

    I became the lead SEO for the team, and eventually the SEO manager for that department. When I left that position, I was responsible for a team of 3 SEOs and more than 250 hotel clients all over the world. As you can imagine, I again acquired a great deal of local SEO knowledge and experience.

    Today I provide my services as a freelance SEO to small businesses that need an affordable way to market their site online with my company, SEO Factor.

    Why A Freelance SEO

    Here’s the thing about SEO Factor. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot of SEO agencies, other SEOs and thousands of small business owners. And the one thing that those agencies don’t offer those small business owners, it’s a customized solution. But think about it, they can’t.

    An agency is always going to place the needs of the business above anything else. This means that they have to find ways to quantify their profits, and streamline their processes. This leaves little room for creating a detailed campaign for each client that doesn’t fall into a repeatable process.

    As your freelance SEO, I am able to take a look at your site as it truly is; unique to your business. This allows me to create and implement a campaign that will provide the best results possible. And because I don’t have tons of overhead costs that are inevitably passed along to an agency’s clients, I can offer my services at a much more affordable rate.

    Getting in Touch with Josh Garner

    If you would like to get in touch with me, you can use the contact page, call me at: 904-993-7796 or simply email me.

  • SEO Factor » Blog Archive » » Week in Review – 10-24-2008

    24 October 2008 No Comment

    A Huge Thank You
    Before I get started with the week’s mini wrap up, I want to send a huge thank you to 2 special people. Alysson Fergison and Amakeda Ponds. Alysson has been helping with a lot of backend stuff for a new company a small group of us SEOs are starting (more info below), and Amakeda is getting a lot of PR (Press Release, not that other PR) stuff in order. So, I want to dedicate this post to you guys. Thank you both so much.

    Interview with Greg Hartnett
    David Mihm conducted an interview with president of ‘Best of The Web,’ Greg Hartnett about the advent of their local platform. It should be noted that, with a little promotion, your local profile can gain some rankings. This is a really good thing for brand visibility and rep management.

    YouTube For SEOs
    IMBroadcast started this week, allowing us SEO/SEM/Internet marketing guys and gals an avenue to promote videos specifically in our field. There were a few problems at launch as noted here, but the idea and site is incredible.

    ScarySEO Kicked Off
    Scary SEO started this week. It’s a conference unlike any other in that the attendees were capped. You would think that a small conference wouldn’t compete with their bigger counterparts, but the speakers there are some of the same ones you would see at SES or SMX. So, good on ya Scary SEO. I really wanted to be there, but I haven’t slept in days, and don’t plan to for weeks.

    Learn To Build Links
    I actually found this site last week, but neglected to comment on it. I was turned onto this link building blog and immediately became a loyal reader. Some of the articles and ideas on here are just incredible. Good reading. Also, there is a little slide in the upper right of the blog with link building tips. Seriously, follow this blog.

    Google Wants to Play ‘Top Gun’
    The New York Times ran a story on Google getting a fighter jet. The details of the story reveal that Google may not actually be the owner of the jet, but there are strong connections between the founders of Google, and the company that actually leased the jet. Seriously, I think the fight against spam and link sellers/buyers is getting out of control.

    And, For The Personal Stuff
    I released pictures of my newest child in a post here.

    I have also been working, almost non-stop mind you, on a new company. We are going to offer a viable, conservative SEO solution for small businesses. The neat thing is, these small business owners will get to speak directly with me, and a few other professional SEOs as a part of the service. I hope to get more information on it out there soon. Very exciting. Again, I want to thank the people that are involved in this with me. A man is nothing without the people that support him.

  • SEO Factor » Blog Archive » » The Company

    3 November 2008 8 Comments

    Wanna get in on a little secret? Yeah, I bet you do. Well I have a little secret. Actually, its not really as much a secret as it is a self-perceived blemish on my record. There is something that I was a part of that I’m not particularly proud of. Something that, when there’s too much quiet time, weighs on my mind quite a bit. Something that, when I hear about from another person, makes my blood boil with anger. Something that, when I’m working, is an extremely powerful driving force behind what I do, second only to my family. So what is it? It is The Company.

    I’ve discussed my workings with The Company before in passing, but never by name. I’ve never written their company name in a blog post or article. I’ve actually only spoken about them either in person, or written about them in very vague terms. Why do I not mention their name? Because soon, they will be in direct competition, and the last thing I need is their better lawyers coming at me (we can play like that later).

    Also, this is the only warning I’m giving that this post may rant off or become incoherent. I don’t get to vent about The Company, and when I do speak of them, I have to do so in a positive manner (I am a professional, you know).

    My First Days as an SEO
    Take a step back in time with me, will you? My younger career was that of a call center jockey. Outbound sales, customer care, tech support; I’ve done it all. That was my job, wherever I went, and in the days of little to no responsibility, it paid enough and kept up with my laziness.

    One day, I start a customer service job for a “website design” company. Being a computer guy, I had played with HTML before, so nothing was out of sorts with this job. This company (from no on known as “The Company”) also offered Internet marketing. That’s interesting, how do market on the Internet? With SEO, that’s how. What a really neat concept. Gaining rankings in Google, and on purpose!

    Because this concept of gaining rankings on purpose was so intriguing to me, it was merely months before I was THE SEO for the company. But let’s take just one more step back before I get into the mushroom cloud rant I’m about to get into.

    My job was simple. Customer calls in, we talk about their website, I tell them what to do to gain rankings. Neat. After about a month of talking a bunch of lines that had been given to me by The Company, I started to wonder if it was really that easy to rank in Google. Surely its a bit more difficult than adding a few keywords, but that’s what I was telling my customers.

    I started learning. I started to read forums (that was the thing back then) and a few blogs (that was new back then). I started to take part in discussions about rankings. I even started a site of my own. Oh how reality bit me in the ass (first time I’ve ever cussed on this site, mark it down).

    I realized that you can’t just change a few keywords and call it a day. There’s more to it. And where the hell (that’s 2, I think) were these keywords coming from? We never did any research.

    I diplomatically voiced my “hey, I think there’s more to it” concerns, and I became the SEO for The Company. Soon, it was my job to return the calls of the customers that either weren’t happy with the answers they received from customer care, or of the websites that just didn’t rank. Wanna take a quick stab at guessing how quickly and to what degree my work piled up? Alas, I was the guy saving the day. I would call these people, and advise on things they should be doing to rank better. And it was working. I had done enough research to get some decent results (decent at best. Not as good now as they seemed then). But there was a piece to this puzzle that bugged me. The service The Company was selling didn’t make any sense.

    400
    That’s how many search engines The Company submitted your site to. Yup, it was one of those companies. In reality, that was the best part of their service. Sure, they had a ton of marketing speak, but there was nothing to it. If you were a customer, you paid your monthly bill and had no idea that you were being ripped off. You could call customer support, and they would answer your question (with extremely low integrity), and you would think all was well.

    The Fights
    I think I still hold the record for “most time spent in the VPs office” at The Company. I would collect a bunch of cases, fight with management on the crap we were telling people, spend a few hours making reports, then repeat. It never ended. I was almost fired for sending an email to the entire customer care team stating that “if any customer calls for SEO advice, tell them I will call them back. Do not under any circumstance discuss SEO with our clients.” Well, it was their job to discuss SEO with our clients, and management was upset, to say the least (the email came from me, so everyone listened, and it was funny to see the calls pile up). These fights were useless.

    My Part
    “Single handedly I would make this company a better place. I swear it.” That’s what I thought. I honestly thought I could take all comers, educate them and get them something that would resemble SEO success. This actually had a chance at working. Customer care even took to my rule as best as they could. However, this just wasn’t logistically sound. The calls piled up and the appointments were missed. It didn’t work.

    You Get The Idea
    I think you understand enough about The Company. Plainly put, they were the crap company that sold a nice, big helping of snake oil.

    SEO Factor
    While working for The Company, I decided to start my own service. I would offer an affordable solution with a real return. This turned out very well for me (you’re reading my blog, aren’t you?). I pulled in a few clients, and was on my way to becoming a real company. Unfortunately, The Company was not happy about this. The things I preached on my blog were not something they could risk their clients seeing (it didn’t help that I directed customers to specific posts to answer questions). I was asked several times to close this site (that didn’t site well with me).

    The Guilt
    I would like to say that as soon as I realized what type of company I worked for, I got up from my desk, flicked the owner off, and walked away. The truth is, it was a long time before I left. I knew fully to what extent we were lying to people, and I had seen too many extreme cases in which our actions certainly ruined businesses. I had even lied to some small business owner myself; “sure you can cancel, but your rankings are going to drop.”

    I know this sounds cheesy, but I feel incredibly guilty when I think about my work at The Company. I know I’m supposed to be more business-minded, but at the end of the day, I’m still young and idealistic. I remember all the good people I had spoken to and convinced to keep the service because it was good for the online visibility. Eventually, this did indeed lead to my leaving. And I’m happy I did.

    Why Am I Writing This Post
    Well, I got tired of specifically writing myself in circles when I spoke about The Company. This post will serve as a reference when I speak about them. Also, I would like to let people know where I’m coming from when I speak with such passion about these crap services. And finally, I am in the middle of starting a company that will be in direct competition with The Company. It’s been a couple of years since I left The Company, and they have had plenty of time to change things (at least that can be their rebuttal if it ever comes up). I think its fair game now.

    Also, believe it or not, people from the company still call me. They still want to offer me a job. I really don’t know why, but they do. So, when I get emails from them, I think it would be a simpler to just link to this post.

    I’m going to release more information on the new company soon, but for now, just know that we plan to offer affordable services to small business owners, that coincidently isn’t a complete ripoff. This is going to be difficult. The Company has access to a lot of money, and every time I turn around they buy another company. Difficult to compete with that. However, I have something they don’t. As destructive as passion and ideals can be if you let them, I use my ideals and passion to push me. I guess that’s one good thing that came from The Company. A desire to go at them.

    In Closing
    I highly doubt I will ever speak directly about The Company. Like I said, they have a lot of money, and it wouldn’t take much of it for them and their lawyers to shut me down; regardless of what is right or wrong. And in the end, any negative comments from me would be viewed as those of a disgruntled employee. So, instead, I’ll be a bit more constructive.

    I’m coming for you, The Company. And I’ve got fire in my eyes.

  • Do You Have Any Stupid Clients? » SEO Factor

    « Google. More Popular Than Sex – Fun With TLA » 19 October 2007

    The title to a post on WebProWorld really got to me today. Do You Have any Stupid Clients?

    The post wasn’t as aggressive as the title, but it really upset me that the statement was even made. Stupid implies that a person is unable to learn or understand. Why on Earth would an SEO, or an expert in any industry, declare stupidity on one that is not an expert in said industry?

    As SEO’s, we have placed ourselves in an field that is still very¬† new, and very mysterious to those that aren’t involved. We research, test, implement and repeat our processes over and over until some form of understanding can be achieved. All these things take a lot of time and patience. But that is OUR job, Not that of our clients.

    I personally cater to a ton of people that had absolutely no previous knowledge that my craft even existed before I came along. I felt, and still feel, that it was a part of my responsibility to educate these people. My clients may not be able to optimize or promote a page themselves, but I’ll be damned if they don’t at least get a basic understanding of what I’m doing. Hell, I barely sell a service before a 3rd or 4th call. I would much rather have an understanding and comfortable client than a quick sale. And my clients are. This isn’t stupidity at all.

    Instead of degrading someone who doesn’t know something about what you do, why not help them by educating? It’s something that we as SEO’s should be doing as much as possible. There are plenty of snake oil salemen out there making our jobs difficult enough. We have to bring a little positive light to what we do, and poking at a business owner where we could have instead helped them doesn’t help.

    And on another note. For the advice that was given to me that posting “beginner” articles on this blog should stop, I respectfully decline. I’ve gotten 2 emails in the last month from SEO’s that I completely respect telling me how I should leave that area of blogging, or I would never really get traffic from Sphinn, or Digg, or get links from other SEO bloggers. To that I say, that’s cool with me. I’m not ready to be a leader yet. I’m a worker right now. I know my place, and am very happy with it. Maybe later.

    If I were blogging for money, I sure as hell wouldn’t have started one for the SEO world. There are a ton of SEO’s out there that can blog circles around me. Instead, I would much rather have a log (a “web log” if you will) to point potential clients to specific posts.

    I worked in a corporate Internet marketing world for 3 very long years, and I have a very strong opinion now on quality of work because of them. Small business owners are getting ripped off daily, and have almost nobody to turn to. If posting beginner articles doesn’t make me a famous SEO, that’s OK by me. I can still take part in forum and Sphinn discussions, which is probably the most important thing I do anyway. So, I’m off to continue the Begginer’s Guide To Local Search I’ve been working on over the last week.

    O.K. I’m done getting cranky. It’s Friday, and I am to propose to my loved one today. The good mood has to be kept. I wish everyone a well Friday.

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